Rousas Rushdoony has been one of the major though rarely mentioned influences on the Evangelical Christian (Right) (Dominionism) over the last forty years or so.
Many Evangelical and Christian Right leaders who have read Rushdoony's books and listen to his lectures though influenced by him tend to obscure the fact since Rushdoony's writings and those of his followers such as Gary DeMar, Gary North , Ralph Reed, Greg Bahnsen, Keith A. Mathison etc.
Others influenced by Rushdoony include some who deny any connection to him or his theology include Pat Robertson CBN, James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries etc.
The Christian theologists who proclaim the Seven Mountains Prophecy and The Coming Elijah Revolution or the Harvest Movements. International House of Prayer are also greatly influenced by the works of Rushdoony such as Lou Engle, James W. Goll , Johnny Enlow , Lance Wallnau , C. Peter Wagner, Bob Weiner (Most of whom now support the platform of President Donald Trump
Moyers Interviews Rousas J. Rushdoony - 1988
"...Uploaded on 6 May 2011
Moyers: You've written that the Bible calls for the death penalty, and I'm just running down a variety of things as you can see. You've written that the Bible calls for the death penalty of some 15 crimes: rape, sodomy, adultery.
Rushdoony: Adultery because in the Bible the basic institution is the family. There's no law of treason against the state. The Bible doesn't even imagine anything remotely like that. But the basic institution is the family. And so, several of the death penalties are associated with the family and its life.
Moyers: So adultery was considered a theft of the family.
Rushdoony: It was, yes, it was treason to the family.
Moyers: Homosexuality.
Rushdoony: Yes, it was treason to the family.
Moyers: Worthy of the death sentence?
Rushdoony: What?
Moyers: Worthy of the death sentence?.
Rushdoony: Yes.
Moyers: Deserving of the death sentence?
Rushdoony: Yes, that's what Paul says.
...
Moyers: But you would re-instate the death penalty for some of these or all of these Biblical crimes?
Rushdoony: I wouldn't---
Moyers: But the reconstructive society--
Rushdoony: I'm saying that this is what God requires. I'm not saying that everything in the Bible, I like. Some of it rubs me the wrong way. But I'm simply saying, this is what God requires. This is what God says is justice. Therefore, I don't feel I have a choice.
Moyers: And the agents of God would carry out the laws.
Rushdoony: The civil government would, on these things.
Moyers: So you would have a civil government, based upon--
Rushdoony: Oh yes. I'm not an anarchist. I'm close to being a libertarian. But--
Moyers: But the civil law would be based on the biblical law. And so you'd have a civil government carrying out a religious mandate.
Rushdoony: Oh yes..."
"So let us be blunt about it: we must use the doctrine of religious liberty to gain independence for Christian schools until we train up a generation of people who know that there is no religious neutrality, no neutral law, no neutral education, and no neutral civil government. Then they will get busy in constructing a Bible-based social, political and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of God."Quote by Gary North ( Reconstructionist)
"This is our government. They (the secular humanists) stole it. And we're coming to take it back."Above quote by Oliver North ( Iran/Contra scandal-right-wing hero Only Following Orders)
"What Christians have got to do is to take back this country,one precinct at a time, one neighborhood at a time and one state at a time ... I honestly believe that in my lifetime wewill see a country once again governed by Christians ... and Christian values."Quote from Ralph Reed (Religious News Service, May 15, 1990)RALPH REED (Executive director of the Christian Coalition)
"In winning a nation to the gospel, the sword as well as the pen must be used."R.J. Rushdooney
And as Randall Terry leader of the anti-abortion movement explains below that those who agree with him must become more militant and filled with hate to achieve their ultimate goal of Dominion.
"I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you.I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good ... Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism."Quote from: [TheNews-Sentinel (Fort Wayne, Indiana), August 16, 1993]RANDALL TERRY (Founder of Operation Rescue and a close friend of the Catholic Archbishops of New York and Philadelphia)
"We must fight against those radical minorities who are trying to remove God from our textbooks, Christ from our nation. We must take back what is rightfully ours." (Moral Majority Sermon, March 1993) "I hope to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be."(America Can Be Saved, 1979) JERRY FALWELL (Senior Pastor of Thomas Rhodes Baptist Church)
"Nothing short of great Civil War of Values rages today throughout North America. Two sides with vastly differing and incompatible world-views are locked in a bitter conflict that permeates every level of society...the struggle now is for the hearts and minds of the people. It is a war over ideas. And someday soon, I believe, a winner will emerge and the loser will fade from memory. For now, the outcome is very much in doubt."
Quote From:Dr. James Dobson, Children at Risk, p. 19–20
"The idea that a coordinated campaign by “secular humanists” was aimed at displacing Christianity as the moral bedrock of America actually traces back to a group of Catholic ideologues in the 1960s. It was Protestant evangelicals, especially fundamentalists, who brought this concept into the public political arena and developed a plan to mobilize grassroots activists as foot soldiers in what became known as the Culture Wars of the 1980s…."Quote from:The New Secular Fundamentalist Conspiracy! By Frederick Clarkson Publiceye.org Spring 2008 Vol. 23, No. 1
In general the art of the truly great national leaders at all times consists among other things primarily in not dividing the attention of a people, but in concentrating it upon a single foe. The more unified the application of a people's will to fight, the greater will be the magnetic attraction of a movement and the mightier will be the impetus of the thrust. It belongs to the genuis of a great leader to make even adversaries far removed from one another seem to belong to a single category, because in weak and uncertain characters the knowledge of having different enemies can only too readily lead to the beginning of doubt in their own right.Above Quote of Adolf Hitler from his book Mein Kampf, pp 118-119
Once the wavering mass sees itself in a struggle against too many enemies, objectivity will put in an appearance, throwing open the question whether all others are really and only their own people or their movement are in the right.
And this brings about the first paralysis of their own power. Hence a multiplicity of different adversaries must always be combined so that in the eyes of the masses of one's own supporters the struggle is directed against only one enemy. This strengthens their faith in their own right and enhances their bitterness against those who attack it.
As Hitler characterizes the basis of political propaganda is that a mulititude of enemies must be reduced to one all pervasive overt and hidden enemy ie in his case he focused on the International Jewish conspiracy which included Jews, labour unions, liberals, socialists, communists etc. . Otherwise it is too complicated and distracting for the average citizen to focus on. From the point of view of the propagandists reality or truth are irrelevant to a great extent.
So the Religious Right's leaders reduce the number of enemies to one defined by Secular Humanism or Liberalism the label under which all other enemies can be placed. So the so called Homosexual agenda, the feminist agenda, the Darwinian agenda are just parts of the "Secular Humanists Conspiracy" (or labeled Liberalism)
In the same way it is easier for the USA government and others to simply reduce all enemies to "Terrorists" as previously all enemies were working hand in glove with the "Communists'.
First a word from the most influential leader of the Religious Right Francis A. Schaeffer from his book : A Christian Manifesto pub. 1982.The call for massive protests and even civil disobedience by UberConservatives such as Bill O'Reilly ,Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs ,Michelle Malkin etc. was first laid out as a strategy by Francis A. Schaeffer in 1981. Schaeffer also outlines the conditions under which it becomes a civic and religious duty for the populace to engage in an insurrection against a government which has become a Tyranny.
In "A Christian Manifesto" Francis Schaeffer argues that a government which does not adhere to God's Law and the Bible the government then loses its authority over its citizenry. The citizens have the right to protest to commit to a strategy of civil disobedience and to using the ballot box and the courts to resist such a tyrannical government. But if these non-violent means do not produce results because those in power are determined to force their will on to the people it is then that the people have to consider a peaceful rebellion and if it does not succeed then armed rebellion is justifiable and even necessary and that further it becomes a duty of the True Christians.
"Thus in almost every place where the Reformation flourished there was not only religious noncompliance: there was civil disobedience as well p.99 Manifesto
It was in this setting that Samuel Rutherford (1600-1661) wrote his Lex Rex or The Law and The Prince. What is the concept in Lex rex very simply the law is king; and if the king and the government disobey the law they are to be disobeyed. And the law is founded on the Law of God...that the basic premise of civil government and, therefore, law, must be based on God's Law as given in the Bible...all men even the king are under the law and not above it. pp.99-100
and: Acts of the state which contradicted God's Law were illegitimate and acts of tyranny. Tyranny was defined as ruling without the sanction of God. and "that a tyrannical government is always immoral" as it is (... a licentious deviation of a power; and is no more from God, but from sinful nature and the old serpent, than a license to sin" Rutherford)
First since tyranny is Satanic , not to resist it is to resist God-to resist tyranny is to honor God.
Second , since the ruler is granted power conditionally, it follows that the people have the power to withdraw their sanction if the proper conditions are not fulfilled.
...therefore "citizens have a moral obligation to resist unjust and tyrannical government." p.101
And Francis Schaeffer outlines the conditions under which civil disobedience and insurrection would become justifiable he emphasizes that a ruler or government is not to be disposed of because of a single breach of the law
"...Only when the magistrate (government) acts in such a way that the governing structure of the country is being destroyed-that is ,when he is attacking the fundamental structure of society-is he to be relieved of his power and authority...""Secular Humanism" is therefore the disease of the Modern era and the cure Schaeffer believes is the return to traditional conservative Biblical values and laws based upon those values. The enemy in essence is "modernity" itself which promotes humanism and hedonism and has nothing upon which the humanist can honestly create a humane set of ethical values. What he offers up as an alternative is that conservative evangelical Christians united with those he refers to as " others of good will" to create a movement which pulls together all of these issues which are troubling Christians and slowly but surely return America to its original state as a God Fearing Christian State in which the laws of the land are once again based upon God's Word. And Schaeffer criticizes those who want to interpret God's Word that is the Bible as a book made up of myths, metaphors, allegory and literary devices as if it were merely a piece of outdated literature. Instead he insists that the only true Christians are those who read the Bible as it was intended as the very word of God that it is wholly inerrant and therefore the literal Word of God.
From somewhat ineffective sporadic fighting to a more effective well financed savvy well organized movement which has become adept at using the media and when it was felt necessary acted below the radar in stealth achieving success one tiny battle at a time. Under Bush's Regime they had made great strides forward insinuating themselves into the political halls of power , into the White House, into the Pentagon and armed forces becoming more pervasive in spreading their Conservative Evangelical Christian message with the help of the so-called Faith Initiatives program which Obama seems content to continue as these Christian Fundamentalist proselytize with financial aid from the government and as American soldiers freely spread their Christian message to Iraq and Afghanistan and dozens of other countries while Talk Radio drums up support for their cause and Fox News propagandizes for them daily and so it goes..
"I want to say to you, those of you who are Christians or even if you are not a Christian and you are troubled about the direction that our society is going in, that we must not concentrate merely on the bits and pieces. But we must understand that all of these dilemmas come on the basis of moving from the Judeo-Christian world view -- that the final reality is an infinite creator God -- over into this other reality which is that the final reality is only energy or material in some mixture or form which has existed forever and which has taken its present shape by pure chance.."
"...The word Humanism should be carefully defined. We should not just use it as a flag, or what younger people might call a "buzz" word. We must understand what we are talking about when we use the word Humanism. Humanism means that the man is the measure of all things. Man is the measure of all things. If this other final reality of material or energy shaped by pure chance is the final reality, it gives no meaning to life. It gives no value system. It gives no basis for law, and therefore, in this case, man must be the measure of all things. So, Humanism properly defined, in contrast, let us say, to the humanities or humanitarianism, (which is something entirely different and which Christians should be in favor of) being the measure of all things, comes naturally, mathematically, inevitably, certainly. If indeed the final reality is silent about these values, then man must generate them from himself."
From: A Christian Manifesto by Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer:
This address was delivered by the late Dr. Schaeffer in 1982 at the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is based on one of his books, which bears the same title.
Here's an alternate version of the same sermon:
1982 Sermon by Francis Schaeffer: Part One Video
Dr. Schaeffer gave this sermon as a guest at Rev. Jerry Falwell's TV show " The Old Gospel Hour"
Francis A. Schaeffer an evangelical fundamentalist Christian is considered to be one of the chief architects of what became the Religious Right. As he points out in his sermon /lecture he believes that Christians view various issues which are troubling to them such as Permissiveness, pornography, abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, birth control, gay rights ,feminism, pre-marital sex, divorce, adultery, creeping socialism
as if they were all separate and unrelated issues and such a view is what has been holding Christians back form achieving their agenda especially in America .
So Schaeffer argues that the issues about which conservative Christians are concerned are in fact connected . He argues that modern society or Western Civilization including Europe and America has reached a crisis in which the true Christian values were no longer dominant and that another system of values which are anti-thetical to true Christianity were or are taking their place . These are symptoms of an all embracing system of values which are being promoted by contemporary society in the media, in art , in the schools , in government , in many of the liberal churches and even on a personal level . This over-arching philosophy or system of values he refers to as "humanism" or "secular humanism" which is pervasive through out Western culture and American culture. It is a philosophy which has replaced belief in the Bible, in God and Jesus with a belief that there is no God and no ultimate truth and that the universe and man are merely the result of blind purposeless chance. So Schaeffer argues that society has bought into this notion that all values and beliefs are relative. This has led to a breakdown in morality and in various traditional institutions such as marriage and the family structure which has led to a selfish narcissistic hedonistic world view in which all that matters is one's own pleasure and happiness and prosperity.
As a propaganda or communications technique Schaeffer frames the argument as Christians and others of Good Will ie all those who agree with him in his analysis of the issues and the diagnosis that all of these societal concerns are a direct outcome of the Godless philosophy of "humanism" or "Secular Humanism" or Godless Liberalism which was promulgated beginning in the Age of Enlightenment which was the beginning of the first stirrings of Humanism and a movement away from God, the Church and religion. Religion came to be characterized as being irrational and anti-scientific and a mere belief in the supernatural rooted in Medieval superstitons .
The alternative to "Humanism, "Secular Humanism", Liberalism and "Socialism" is to return America to its foundation based upon Judeo-Christian beliefs and traditions.
The Bible therefore must be the foundation upon which the system of government and its laws are steadfastly based.At the core of Schaeffer's and the Religious Rights beliefs is the move towards a Judeo-Christian Theocracy which reflects the values of a literal inerrant Bible. Therefore that which is considered unlawful or a crime or a breach of God's Law as found in the Bible should also be treated as a crime by local, state and the federal government.
It should be noted that Francis Schaeffer speaking in 1982 believed that the struggle to make America into a wholly Christian nation would take more than just one or two election cycles but would take decades and True Believing Christians needed to brace themselves for a long arduous battle with successes and set backs but ultimately if the movement persisted it would eventually succeed because they had right on their side.
Francis Schaeffer in this 1982 sermon sets up his argument against modernity as an "either /or" a dichotomy of either belief in God and Jesus and the Bible as the literal inerrant word of God or the philosophy humanism which he defines as a belief in the final reality of energy which is the result of mere chance.
His description of Humanism is reduced to a radical form of relativism which is amoral or immoral and which is often characterized as leading to various forms of Existentialism and "Nihilism". In this he makes the same error as those scholars who fail to differentiate between "relativism" as purely an observation and a descriptive analysis as opposed to "relativism" as an absolute and as "prescriptive" . The descriptive sense comes from basic scientific non-political Darwinian evolution and anthropology which merely describes that for instance different cultures , societies , tribes and civilization have had or have different views about religion, politics, ethics of what is acceptable and what is unacceptable such as Taboos ala Sigmund Freud .
In one society a man may take more than one wife or a woman may take more than one husband at a time. In another society there might be a belief in God or Many Gods. There may be a belief in the efficacy of Human sacrifice- in one such society the person to be sacrificed must be willing to die for the good of all in order for the human sacrifice to have meaning in another the person sacrificed need not be willing at all. In some societies sex before marriage is acceptable to another it is not acceptable. To murder that is to kill without just cause is considered wrong in most cultures. But killing for justifiable reasons may be fairly narrow or rather broad. In some cases the difference in cultures are not really significant and are merely traditions for which breaking them is not a serious offense in the sense of the individual being executed or banished for said infraction.
According to Francis Schaeffer and the Religious Right all that has gone wrong in Western society including the United States have their roots in this anti-God philosophy and movement known as "Humanism" often seen as connected to "Godless Communism" but Schaeffer in 1982 refers to it as "Secular Humanism" and in more recent times ala Ann Coulter et al as "Godless Liberalism". In this way these critics of modernity have created using a savvy propagandistic technique a much wider all embracing label which goes beyond the narrower label of Communism and socialism as promoted by Karl Marx and Engels and later Lenin & Trotsky etc. Now they are able to define the "Enemy" as "humanism, Secular Humanism, or Liberalism & socialism all grounded in the anti-God, anti-Christian anti-religious philosophies of the Enlightenment.
The Religious Right movement as founded by Francis Schaeffer see the demand for Gay rights, feminism & women's reproductive rights ie abortion, birth control, equal opportunity and equal rights for women,African Americans Hispanic Americans & Gays & pluralism and multiculturalism and freedom of religion for Non-Judeo Christian religions, sexual freedom , free speech , etc. as all being great evils brought about because Judeo -Christianity has not taken its rightful place in his view as being the dominant theological and cultural authority which should be reflected in the laws of the nation.
In the end what Francis Schaeffer is calling for is not just a New Awakening or revival as in the former Great Awakenings in the history of America of Christianity outside of the realm of politics and public policy making but rather something more all encompassing and therefore more dangerous. It is not something which we should treat lightly for they are serious and sincere in fighting for their agenda of a Christian Nation and a theocracy .
What Francis Schaeffer in the 1970s and 1980s set out to do was to create a mass movement of fellow believers who were disturbed by the changes going on in society who would not merely retreat from society and politics but would become fully engaged in making changes in society through their actions in the spheres of politics and public policy making from the local public libraries to PTAs and school boards to city councils to state and federal governments.
The Religious Right movement began creating various front organizations which were committed to single-issue campaigns or others committed to a number of issues and acting as a means for communication among the various organizations and the coordination or orchestration of the various actions or activities. These groups then using their amassed mailing lists of those with similar beliefs could organize their members to put pressure on a local school board or the state or federal legislatures concerning a single issue such as abortion, prayer in the schools , religious symbols in the public square or on Television Networks to censor specific programs or the use of language or ideas which they objected to or on larger issues such as preventing the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment for women which still lies in limbo due to their actions or on international relations to make no deals with certain countries such as the Soviet Union or to criticize or stop trading with a country whose government they disapproved of etc.
So we get the creation of an umbrella group such as the Moral Majority Inc. founded by Rev Jerry Falwell with the help of Francis Schaeffer and others. Other organizations were formed to fight abortion calling themselves not the anti-abortionists but rather the more media friendly "pro-Life Movement" by doing so they implied those not in favor of ending abortion were in fact "Pro-Death" or Pro-Murder" while on the other side of the issue they began referring to themselves as Pro-Choice.
Religious Right rather than merely attacking Darwinian Evolution as being unBiblical or anti-God they began a campaign with a long view of what they could achieve by co-opting science to give a scientific basis to their belief that they had a fully developed scientific theory known as Scientific Creationism or Creation Science which would be a rational alternative to Evolution and the origins of man and of the earth itself and the universe. So sympathetic scientists mainly those in the applied sciences such as chemical engineering,genetic engineering biology, physics, etc. (rather than the theoretical sciences such as) to create alternative plausible explanations of the fossil evidence or which throw into question the methodology for assigning an age to the fossil record or creating doubt about the mechanisms of evolution while explaining Bible stories such as Noah's Flood and his Ark by arguing that there is some evidence of such a world wide flood and that an Ark of the size needed could have been built at that time and it could hold enough animals to be certain of their survival etc. This project has since been morphed into Intelligent Design which merely claims that the universe as we know it is too complex to have been the result of mere chance and so they argue it had to be created by a designer ie Supreme being ie God. They further argue that the world as we know it maybe quite old or not given the various evidence available about which there is a great deal of uncertainty.
The Religious Right believe that only Christians have the right to hold political power because they are the chosen of God. For the last thirty or more years the Religious Right has been hard at work creating a movement which they had hoped would come to dominate American institutions and the government itself either through legal means ie elections but if not by other means or to put it more bluntly if the people are thwarted in their efforts by the "Secular Humanists" or the "Godless Liberals" then the "True Believers" must take power by whatever means necessary because it is their destiny and their God Given Right to create a theocracy to await or to usher in "the Second Coming" or even by their actions push the time table ahead for the Second Coming.
Francis Schaeffer of course rejects all other religions which are not based upon the Bible so only Judeo Christianity has any validity. But basically like other chauvinistic Christian thinkers or apologists before him have argued Christianity has superseded Judaism.
But the Jews it is argued by many Christians including the Catholic Church must be defended because they have played a role in History as part of God's ultimate plan - The Jews were for a time God's chosen people until they rejected Jesus as the Messiah and were guilty of deicide by murdering Jesus the crime for which they were made to wander the earth in the diaspora as an example of what happens to those who reject the Son of God.
Next the Jews were punished by God in the Shoah or Holocaust in which Hitler was acting as God's instrument which the Evangelical Fundamentalist Pastor Hagee has argued recently that God sent a hunter to punish the Jews.
Next came the founding of the state of Israel which signaled the beginning of the End-Times scenario ( in all its variations among Evangelical Christians) in which a remnant of Jews in the last days would convert to Christianity ushering in the rule of the Church or the rule of the returned Messiah .So the Jews can be seen as mere bit players in God's great drama in which the True Christians the Evangelical Fundamentalists Christians have a starring role.
He also ignores the thinking and philosophies found in the works of Humanists over the past couple of centuries from Voltaire to Thomas Jefferson & Thomas Paine to Bertrand Russel etc.. There are for instance many humanist who believe that a humane form of morality and ethics can be argued for without appealing to God or Gods or to Holy Writ. As one of the greatest and influential humanist philosophers in the twentieth century Ludwig Wigenstein argued or made the observation that though he did not know if the human soul existed he believed that one should treat all individuals as if they had a soul.
Churchleadership.org:The Francis A. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership
Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984) is most credited with and the founding of L'Abri and helping ignite political activism, apologetics as well as deep biblical philosophical thinking amongst Protestant evangelicals in the 1950’s through the early 1980’s. Schaeffer also challenge the wakening Church to what he saw as the increasing influence of secular humanism and a deterioration of solid Biblical Discipleship. Hs insights have challenged many people and churches to seek faith and reason to how we lead our life and mange Christ’s Church. Francis Schaeffer did not ask of people to merely critique his work, rather it was his desire for Christian people to develop their skills in faith and reason, knowing His Word and applying Christ percepts into life and church. Thus, Schaeffer’s work was called to be applied, as what he called, “True Spirituality.” Our distinction from other “Schaeffer” organizations, is seeking to do as he exemplified in reference to how we do church. Most look to his works on philosophy and apologetics to which we wholeheartedly support. But we feel his call to reform the Church and point it back to Christ’s preeminence and making disciples has gone mostly unheard.
Under Schaeffer’s guidance and vision, started this endeavor in the late 70’s as a “think-tank” to strategize how to reach and train pastors and church leaders to focus on Christ centered principles.
Because of God’s call and Schaeffer’s influence, we desire to see a church committed to His purpose and poured out to His ways. Then we will see revival through real prayer and devotion to His Lordship.
Currently the Francis A. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership Development is in partnership with Into Thy Word Ministries (another Francis Schaeffer vision). Our current task is the collecting articles and essays by the Late Francis Schaeffer, as well as researching his materials and making application of them to help lead the church into a better more biblical direction.
The Great Evangelical Disaster at Church Leadership.org
"Make no mistake. We as Bible-believing evangelical Christians are locked in a battle. This is not a friendly gentleman's discussion. It is a life and death conflict between the spiritual hosts of wickedness and those who claim the name of Christ. It is a conflict on the level of ideas between two fundamentally opposed views of truth and reality. It is a conflict on the level of actions between a complete moral perversion and chaos and God's absolutes. But do we really believe that we are in a life and death battle?" (31, 32).
"Do you understand now what the battle is about in the area of culture and ideas? In the last sixty years the consensus upon which our culture was built has shifted from one that was largely Christian (though we must say immediately it was far from perfect) to a consensus growing out of the Enlightenment: that is, to a consensus that stands in total anithesis to Christian truth at every point- including the denial of the supernatural; belief in the all-sufficiency of human reason; the rejection of the fall; denial of the deity of Christ and his resurrection; belief in the perfectibility of Man; and the destruction of the Bible. And with this has come a nearly total moral breakdown. There is no way to make a synthesis of these ideas and Christian truth. They stand in total antithesis," (35,36).
"Here is the great evangelical disaster - the failure of the evangelical world to stand for truth as truth. There is only one word for this - namely accommodation: the evangelical church has accommodated to the world spirit of the age. First, there has been accommodation on Scripture, so that many who call themselves evangelicals hold a weakened view of the Bible and no longer affirm the truth of all the Bible teaches - truth not only in religious matters but in the areas of science and history and morality. As part of this, many evangelicals are now accepting the higher critical methods in the study of the Bible. Remember, it was these same methods which destroyed the authority of the Bible for the Protestant church in Germany in the last century, and which have destroyed the Bible for the liberal in our own country from the beginning of this century. And second, there has been accommodation on the issues, with no clear stand being taken even on matters of life and death" (37).
"Within evangelicalism there is a growing number who are modifying their views on the inerrancy of the Bible so that the full authority of Scripture is completely undercut" (44).
"Unless the Bible is without error, not only when it speaks of salvation matters, but also when it speaks of history and the cosmos, we have no foundation for answering questions concerning the existence of the universe and its form and the uniqueness of man. Nor do we have any moral absolutes, or certainty of salvation, and the next generation of Christians will have nothing on which to stand" (46).
"What the Bible clearly teaches about the limitations placed upon divorce and remarriage is now put by some evangelicals in the area of cultural orientation. They say these were just the ideas of that moment when the New Testament was written" (59).
"Do we not have to agree that even much of the evangelical church, which claims to believe that the Bible is without error, has bent Scripture at the point of divorce to conform to the culture rather than the Scripture judging the present viewpoints of the fallen culture? Do we not have to agree that in the area of divorce and remarriage there has been a lack of biblical teaching and discipline even among evangelicals?" (63).
also check out: How Should We then Live: Francis A. Schaeffer
L'Abri Fellowship International Francis A. Schaeffer
For more on the Religious Right check out lists of websites at left side bar.
The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party at Theocracy Watch.org
Religious Right Watch
Right Wing Watch.org at People For The American Way
Heritage Foundation, Focus On the Family
And a warning from Frank Schaeffer (son of Dr. Francis Schaeffer ) who has become an outspoken opponent of the Religious Right about the Religious Right unleashed & stirred up by the Republicans and Big Business Lobbyists, Health Care Insurance Industry, & Big Pharma & Fox News .
The Threat Is Real: Why Right-Wing Rage at Townhall Meetings Could Quickly Turn Deadly By Frank Schaeffer, AlterNet. August 12, 2009.The insurance industry has agitated the far right to prevent health reform, but they don't know whom they're messing with.
and on the ongoing activity of the Far Right check out recently released report by The Southern Law Poverty Center:
Terror from the Right: 75 Plots, Conspiracies and Racist Rampages Since Oklahoma City Southern Poverty Law Center. Including plots to bomb government buildings, banks, refineries, clinics, synagogues, mosques, memorials and bridges; to assassinate police officers, judges, politicians and more. August 22, 2009.via AlterNet.org
Religious Right in Canada-vancouver sun The search
"Those in this army will have His kind of power. ... Anyone who wants to harm them must die."Joel's Army-Evangelical Fundamentalists
Family Research Council is a Religious Right organization which is pro-aFamily Values, anti-Gay and anti-abortion. So of course it is against any sort of real health care reform by Obama. They believe that America is a Christian nation which rejects any form of "socialism" & is anti-Big Government and believe that Capitalism and the Free Market economy and rugged individualism are all part of God's Plan since America is God's Chosen Nation.
This ad is just a piece of propagandistic fear mongering to the misinformed and so FRC adds its weight to give some credence to the notion of government "Death Panels" which is part of a conspiracy theory about the Obama Health Care Reform Bills concocted by the Health Insurance Industry , Republicans, Sara Palin, Newt Gingrich and of course Fox News in which they allege the government will be encouraging people to end their own lives before their time to decrease the cost of their health care. They also allege the government wants to in the future encourage aborting children with special needs which Sara Palin has commented on even though she knows very well it is not true. But once these allegations are out there it is difficult to expose them as lies and misinformation.
Life and Death: FRC Action Ad
Continuation of Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer the architect of The Religious Right in America.
He argues that Christian values and Christianity is engaged in a cultural war against Godless Humanism / Secular Humanism / Godless Liberalism . He claims the situation in America is dire and that True Evangelical Christians who adhere to a literal view of the BIble are losing that war. Schaeffer decries the fact that in his view many Liberal Christian Churchs have become appeasers or accomondationist who are willing to renounce many parts of the Bible as being a reflection of the times they were written and therefore do not apply to contemporary society.For instance the role of women in the family and in society has changed and the laws reflect that change which he believes to be going against the role of women as described in the Bible. Schaeffer believes that homosexuality, adultery, pre-marital sex, pornography, blasphemy if they are condemned in the Bible and therefore by God they should be punishable under man's laws in accordance with God's Will. Adulterers might be imprisoned or executed possibly by stoning. There is in the final analysis little to differentiate between the Evangelical Fundamentalist Christians and the Taliban or other Islamic extremists or extremists in other religions who have no tolerance for the beliefs of others. Liberal notions of tolerance and diversity and mutual understanding have no place in the belief systems of the religious extremists.
1982 Sermon by Francis Schaeffer - Part 2
Books by francis A, Schaeffer
How Should We then Live: Francis A. Schaeffer
L'Abri Fellowship International Francis A. Schaeffer
Churchleadership.org:The Francis A. Schaeffer Institute of Church Leadership
And on the End-Times Armageddon and the relationship between Christian Evangelicals and Israel there is " this strange alliance ".
Armageddon Lobby -- trying to hurry up God --Its "Christian" Muscle at Iraq War.org
With the collapse of communism (and Nazism before it) mankind's utopian fantasies have returned to a religious hue. The Armageddonites (and their co-believer extreme fundamentalists in the Muslim and Jewish worlds) are the new dreamers of bringing paradise to earth, just, however, with the need to eliminate much of the human race first. In America we have now this strange alliance, the Israeli Likud settler lobby gets money, guns and political cover. In exchange millions of born again "rapture" evangelicals gain fulfillment, believing that they are helping God to end the world during their lifetimes and thereby will get a quick pass to heaven "without dying" (no judgment day). Oh, and with the death of all Jews (and the rest of the human race) who do not convert to their faith. Their "Heaven" incidentally, is sort of socialist with no inequality and everyone rich. A popular Gaither Singers song describes how one won't need to cut the grass in Heaven.
The Book of Revelations in the Bible, upon which they build their scenario, is also very controversial. It was made scripture three centuries after the death of Christ. "Traditionally attributed to St. John, most Biblical scholars now recognize its literary style and its theology has little in common with John's gospel or his epistles and was likely written after his death. Martin Luther found the vindictive God of Revelations incompatible with the gospels and relegated it to the appendix of his German translation of the New Testament instead of the body of scripture. All the Protestant reformers except Calvin regarded apocalyptic millenialism to be heresy."
Ron Luce & Battlecry using teen culture music etc.as a means of militantly proselytizing Christian Evangelical Fundamentalism . Uses savvy propagandistic techniques to break down the individuals resistance by undermining their ability to reason. Luce like other Evangelicals pounds away at the idea that our society is evil and pernicious and that there are only two choices to follow : the sinful path of hedonistic materialism or to abide by the literal inerrant Word of God as presented in the Bible. All other religions are false religions which are on the side of the anti-Christ and Satan and are by definition anti-Christian and anti-the True God. One must therefore be for God or against God.
About Teen Mania and What I Do-Ron Luce Battlecry! (Ministries)
The message of Teen Mania and Battlecry is that this generation is alive at a pivotal time in which everone must take a side since the End-Times are near. But on a more realistic level Ron Luce encourages these teenagers to not merely become Good Christians but rather that they be God's Warriors who will use their abilities to bring America back to God. This means that these teenager should aim for the education and abilities needed so they can take up positions of power and authority in public institutions in order to influence policy making and ultimately the legislation and lwas of the land to reflect America's Evangelical Fundamentalist beliefs.
As we see in the video these teens are sent to other countries to do Good Works but their works are tinged or tainted by an aggressive and militant proselytizing. These groups and many other have mad big in roads in Latin America, Africa and Asia . In a number of countries Christian Evangelicalism is on the rise as the traditional Christian Churches and other Non-Christian religions are losing members. In a number of countries there have been numerous complaints about the heavy-handed proselytizing by Evangelical Fundamentalist in which these Christian Missionaries show little or no cultural sensitivity or real respect for Non-Christian religions or even non-Evangelical Fundameentalist Christian sects.
The worrying concern is that these teens are already strident in their beliefs and hold to a belief system which is rigid in which there is little room for doubt or a real and sincere tolerance of other beliefs. They believe that one can only live a decent and worthwhile life by dedicating oneself wholly and totally to Jesus. They are taught at a very vulnerable and precarious stage in their lives that all other beliefs are not just wrong but are in fact evil.
Ron Luce's beliefs are in the end more in line with Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer than one at first glance would think. When we strip away the Teen Mania/Battle Cry glitter and stagecraft and loud rock music it is easier to see that Ron Luce's theology and philosophy and his emphasis on activism and engagement of believers with society and politics is very much an adaptation of the beliefs and program and agenda which Dr. Francis A. Schaeffer outlined in the 1970s and 1980s.
One of the other things to note as we see in this video and others the great deal of uncritical media attention that is lavished on Teen Mania and Battlecry ministries and other such organizations. Far too many people in the American media treat this Evangelical movement as purely benign and ignore the negative effect of this heavy handed proselytizing of vulnerable teenagers. If this were some non-Christian cult the media would be screaming from the roof-tops about child abuse etc. so there is I believe a bit of hypocrisy or a blind spot on the part of the media.
These Battlecry concerts are like raves which last not just a couple of hours but can go on for twelve hours or even over the course of several days with the mornings stated at 7am with prayers and religious lectures etc and continue on well into the night. During this period individuals are physically and mentally exhausted and open as it were to messages which ordinarily they might reject out of hand or if given time they would give the message thoughtful consideration and then come to some sort of decision or decide they needed more time and information to come to a reasonable conclusion. But that's the point of all of this elaborate theater to by-pass the individuals rational self and appeal to them as part of a crowd in which the shared experience is the most important thing. Peer pressure also plays a big role in these kinds of revivals because who wants to be singled out as different especially as a teenager.
Isn't this then a form of propagandizing or brain-washing which leads to group-think similar to that of "Cults" or extremist political movements which use a variety of propaganda techniques as a way to short-circuit the rational part of the brain . Hitler , Stalin, Lenin, Mao have all used these techniques of attempting to communicate on a purely emotional and visceral level.
Next we take a look at the Evangelical Fundamentalist group Joel's Army whose target audience is also teenager and young adults in which the whole revival aspect is revved up a few more notches from Battlecry and its effects are even more pronounced and easier to detect.
Theocratic Sect Prays for Real Armageddon By Casey Sanchez, Southern Poverty Law Center. August 30, 2008. Members of Joel's Army are fighting to bring about the millennial reign of Christ.
Joel's Army followers, many of them teenagers and young adults who believe they're members of the final generation to come of age before the end of the world, are breaking away in droves from mainline Pentecostal churches. Numbering in the tens of thousands, they base their beliefs on an esoteric reading of the second chapter of the Old Testament Book of Joel, in which an avenging swarm of locusts attacks Israel. In their view, the locusts are a metaphor for Joel's Army.
Despite their overt militancy, there's no evidence Joel's Army followers have committed any acts of violence.
But critics warn that actual bloodletting may only be a matter of time for a movement that casts itself as God's avenging army.
Those sounding the alarm about Joel's Army are not secular foes of the Christian Right, few of whom are even aware of the movement or how widespread it's become in the past decade. Instead, Joel's Army critics are mostly conservative Christians, either neo-Pentecostals who left the movement in disgust or evangelical Christians who fear that Joel's Army preachers are stealing their flocks, even sending spies to infiltrate their own congregations and sway their young people to heresy. And they say the movement is becoming frightening.
...Rick Joyner, a pastor whose books, The Harvest and The Call, helped popularize Joel's Army theology by selling more than a million copies each, goes the furthest on Elijah's List in pushing the hardliner approach. In 2006, he posted a sermon called "The Warrior Nation -- The New Sound of the Church," in which he claimed that a last-day army is now gathering and called believers "freedom fighters."
"As the church begins to take on this resolve, they [Joel's Army churches] will start to be thought of more as military bases, and they will begin to take on the characteristics of military bases for training, equipping, and deploying effective spiritual forces," Joyner wrote. "In time, the church will actually be organized more as a military force with an army, navy, air force, etc."
...In the Book of Joel, the locust invasion is described as an omen that an Assyrian army to the north may attack Israel if it fails to repent as a nation. But nowhere is the invasion described as an army of God. According to an Assemblies of God position paper: "It is a complete misinterpretation of Scripture to find in Joel's army of locusts a militant, victorious force attacking society and a non-cooperating Church to prepare the earth for Christ's millennial reign."
...The story of how an ancient insect invasion came to be a rallying flag for 21st-century dominonists begins just after World War II in Canada. Out of a small town in Saskatchewan, a Pentecostal preacher named William Branham spearheaded a 1948 revival in which he claimed that his followers lived in a new biblical time of "Latter Rain."
The most sinless and ardent of his flock would be called "Manifest Sons of God." By the next year, the movement was so strong -- and seemed so subversive to some -- that the Assemblies of God banned it as a heretic cult. But Branham remained a controversial figure with a loyal following; many of his followers believed him to be the end-times prophet Elijah.
Michael Barkun, a leading scholar of radical religion, notes that in 1958, Branham began teaching "Serpent Seed" doctrine, the belief that Satan had sex with Eve, resulting in Cain and his descendants. "Through Cain came all the smart, educated people down to the antediluvian flood -- the intellectuals, bible colleges," Branham wrote in the kind of anti-mainstream religion, anti-intellectual spirit that pervades the Joel's Army movement to this day. "They know all their creeds but know nothing about God."
...The atmosphere is less charged with violence at "The Call," a 12-hour revival of up to 20,000 youths led by Joel's Army pastor Lou Engle and held every summer in a major American city (this year's event was scheduled for Washington, D.C. in August).
Attendees are called upon to fast and pray for 40 days and take up culture-war pledges to lead abstinent lives, reject pornography and fight abortion. They're further asked to perform "identificational repentance," lugging along family trees and genealogies to see where one of their ancestors may have enslaved or oppressed another so that they can make amends. (Many in the Joel's Army movement believe in generational curses that must be broken by the current generation).
..."Today, you can type 'Joel's Army' into a search engine and a thousand heresy hunter websites pop up, decrying the very mention of it," writes John Crowder in The New Mystics. Crowder doesn't exactly allay critic's fears. "This is truly warfare," he writes. "This battle is not a game. They [Joel's Army warriors] will not be on the defense; they will be on the offense -- and the gates of hell will not be able to hold up against them."
So far, few members of the secular media have taken notice of Joel's Army, even as they report on Protestant dominionists like Pat Robertson or the more outrageous calls for the stoning of gays and lesbians emanating from Reconstructionist circles. There are exceptions, however. On the DailyKos, a well-read, politically liberal blog, a diarist has been blogging for two years about her experiences as a walkaway from a Joel's Army church. She writes under a pseudonym out of fear of physical reprisals.
She may have real cause for concern. As Wimber, the late founder of The Vineyard, put it in one of his most famous and fiery sermons, one that is still frequently cited by Joel's Army followers: "Those in this army will have His kind of power. ... Anyone who wants to harm them must die."
James Kennedy's praising False Idols of his Americanized Christianity, the Founding Fathers have become Saints or Prophets equal to Jesus disciples, the founding documents are seen as Holy Writ & that America was created by Divine Providence / God therefore the President of the USA is comparable to King David. But Kennedy's God is a blue-eyed blonde guy of a nice middle Class Family
"Twilight's Last Gleaming" Dr. James Kennedy 1993 Sermon
sshaalan June 04, 2009
In general the art of the truly great national leaders at all times consists among other things primarily in not dividing the attention of a people, but in concentrating it upon a single foe. The more unified the application of a people's will to fight, the greater will be the magnetic attraction of a movement and the mightier will be the impetus of the thrust. It belongs to the genuis of a great leader to make even adversaries far removed from one another seem to belong to a single category, because in weak and uncertain characters the knowledge of having different enemies can only too readily lead to the beginning of doubt in their own right.In these statements from Mein Kampf Adolf Hitler shows his deep understanding of how to use propaganda in order to control the masses. Honesty or truthfulness has nothing to do with such a technique. (Leo Strauss -The Noble Lie, and the amoral elitist Ayn Rand would agree) So for his own purposes Hitler created one enemy by focusing on the Jews but he admits he added to the "conspiracy theory" all of his and Germany's other enemies.He didn't need truth to make the most improbable connections; his followers were to accept some things as a matter of Faith over Reason. The Jewish people in his view were behind various political movement which arose in the 19th century ; liberalism, relativism, Marxism, Hegelian philosophy, feminism, labor unions,Anarchism, Communism, Democracy , All that had gone wrong in Germany was caused by the behind the scenes nefarious activities of a world wide Jewish cabal.
Once the wavering mass sees itself in a struggle against too many enemies, objectivity will put in an appearance, throwing open the question whether all others are really and only their own people or their movement are in the right.
And this brings about the first paralysis of their own power. Hence a multiplicity of different adversaries must always be combined so that in the eyes of the masses of one's own supporters the struggle is directed against only one enemy. This strengthens their faith in their own right and enhances their bitterness against those who attack it.
Adolf Hitler Mein Kampf, pp 118-119
In Hitler's view the Jews had spent hundreds of years permeating all levels of German and European society thereby undermining the true spirit of Germany and Europe. Hitler believed that the Jews...constituted a foreign entity or like a cancer in the German state which must be removed from any positions of power or authority. Further Hitler argues that Jews should be segregated from the German Aryan population.Because the problem with the Jews was one of race or blood or genes this could not be fixed by re-education of any sort' Eventually all Jews would have to be removed from the Nation for it to achieve its ultimate goals .
Secular Humanism, Liberalism Relativism Tolerance
In the same way Hitler talked about the True Germans or the "Real" German People and the Aryan Race so we hear in the United States similar use of language. The conservatives whether secular or religious also talk about "Real Americans" who are true patriots who are willing to defend the US Constitution, The Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. The Real Americans are also defined as those who believe in unfettered capitalism-no regulations whatsoever- that rights which labor has accumulated over the past century should be tossed away in favor of Rapacious Capitalism and the right to work and the right of the employer to pay whatever rate he wishes etc.There should be no rules about gun ownership . The public schools should be shut down . Children should either be home-schooled attend private schools or be sent to the workhouse.
Sunday Sermon from the late Dr. James Kennedy founder of Coral Ridge Ministries
James Kennedy argues that the relativist post-modernists (liberals, Secular Humanist) will tolerate just about anyone or any group except Christians. "So they are gunning for You" he proclaims. These relativists are unable or unwilling to discern between good and evil. They therefore are willing to allow people to take part in evil actions. The way things are going our society as we know it is not just changing but is devolving and soon we will be back to living in jungles under the law of the jungle.
James Kennedy says that things are so bad it is time for Christians to get up out of their pews and become politically involved in order to take their country.
Relativity, Tolerance and Discrimination - Part 2
February 05, 2008
Dr. D. James Kennedy, delivers this powerful message.
and from Summit Ministries:
For example In a series of videos Summit Ministries details their views on the "Secular Humanist Conspiracy' which looks a lot like the erroneous "Jewish Conspiracy"- So as once the enemy of Christianity and of Western Civilization's traditional values and institutions were "The Jews" they are now replaced by "Secular Humanism" or "liberalism" . Any ideas or values which these conservative Christians dislike or see as pernicious are labeled as being generated by "Secular Humanism".
In this clip they explain how the banking system is controlled or will be by "Secular Humanist'-
according to those who adhere to the "Jewish Conspiracy" it is the Jews who are said to control The International Banking system along with every other major institution whereas the Religious Right argue that it is not the Jews but the "Secular Humanists" who are trying to take complete control of America's institutions. The "Secular Humanists" are accused of trying to create "The New World Order"(NWO) Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter and Conservative Evangelical fundamentalists and others promulgate this conspiratorial world view.
Economics - Secular Humanism Worldview
The conservative Evangelical Fundamentalists organization Summit Ministries for example proclaims it was created as a response to the dangers and perniciousness of "Humanism" /Secular Humanism/Liberalism or Postmodernism which is out to undermine and destroy Christianity.
according to their website Secular Humanism is taking over American institutions and society and its culture at an alarming rate.
Not only are large numbers of Christians (and especially Christian youth) abandoning their faith; they are adopting the false ideas presented throughout our culture - Darwinism, naturalism, relativism, postmodernism, pluralism, and many others. Christians have simply not been taught how to develop a comprehensive Christian view of reality or an intelligent biblical defense regarding the fundamental issues of our day.
"Education is the most powerful ally of Humanism [Atheism], and every American public school is a school of Humanism. What can the theistic Sunday Schools, meeting for an hour once a week, and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching?"
— Charles Francis Potter, Humanism: A New Religion, p. 128
Summit Ministries® is an educational Christian ministry whose very existence is a response to our current post-Christian culture. Today, countless Christian youth have fallen victim to the popular ideas of our modern world. Most have adopted these ideas into their own worldview, while still others go on to renounce their Christian faith altogether.
Summit views its role in God's kingdom as a catalyst to counteract this alarming trend.
In this article by John Stonestreet found at the Summit Ministries website he has replaced the term "Secular Humanism" with "Postmodernism" as the enemy of Christianity but it is the same old boogeyman as that described by Francis A. Schaeffer in 1982 the video of that sermon is posted on left side bar.
"Ideas Have Consequences:
How Postmodernism Changes the Rules" By John Stonestreet October 30, 2009
While there are significant disagreements among the various expressions of postmodernism, there is a key belief that characterizes all of them: an acute awareness of our “situatedness” as humans.
As I described in an earlier article, postmoderns deny that there is any overarching story, or metanarrative, to the world. Therefore, we all come from a perspective, or bias, that is shaped by the culture, or the “little stories,” we inhabit. Kevin Vanhoozer states, “Postmoderns are so preoccupied with the situated self that they cannot get beyond it.” Because of this “situatedness,” no one can claim objectivity for his or her views.
This is the clearest difference between postmodernism and most worldviews. Whereas the central concern of other worldviews is what the real world actually is, the focus of postmodernism is on how we perceive and how we describe what the world is.
Postmodernism: A Worldview of Contingency
...In the postmodern worldview, everything is contingent; nothing is fixed.
We are trapped in our situatedness. There are no foundations that are not themselves contingent from which to build a certain and agreed-upon body of knowledge. Knowledge really comes down to one’s perspective—we never really have the facts; there is only interpretation.
The New Secular Fundamentalist Conspiracy! By Frederick Clarkson Publiceye.org Spring 2008 Vol. 23, No. 1
One of the most remarkable, and least remarked upon, features of the contemporary discussion of faith in public life is that a defining feature of the religious right worldview has filtered deeply into mainstream and even progressive thought. This defining feature is the idea that somehow God, and/or Christianity, and/or “people of faith” are being driven from “the public square.” It is a powerfully animating idea for many Americans; yet it is rarely factually supported and even more rarely challenged.
Interestingly, much of this distortion hinges on a single word. The word is “secular” and such variants as “secular humanists,” “secular fundamentalists,” and just plain “secularists.” While the word has simple and benign definitions, the word is also the touchstone of a powerful and usually subterranean set of meanings that often makes it a term of derision and demonization.
Tracing the word “secular” exposes how an important and dynamic dimension of religious right ideology has drifted to the top of American political discourse as well as elements of the liberal/left. This has, as we shall see, consequences for the mainstream discussion of separation of church and state, while also fomenting unnecessary divisions among progressives, and even raising the specter of old fashioned red baiting with is echoes of the “Godless Communist”1 smear leveled at generations of American progressives.
Secular Baiting Goes Mainstream
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney staged a speech at the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library, in Midland, Texas early in the GOP presidential primary season in 2007. It was considered a speech of great moment for Romney, particularly given the personal introduction by former president Bush. It was at least a trial balloon on the party’s approach to religious freedom and separation of church and state. Indeed, Romney sought at once to echo John F. Kennedy's famous 1960 campaign speech in which the Democrat declared that the Catholic Church did not speak for him and he would not speak for Rome; that his religious views were private; he believed in the absolute separation of church and state; he would be president of all of the people; and would swear to uphold the Constitution of the United States. In so doing, Kennedy at once dissolved some people's concerns about whether he harbored any divided loyalties to the Vatican — and set a standard for the relationship between organized religion and candidates for office for a generation.
Romney’s task was a little different. He wanted to dissolve concerns about his Mormon faith and simultaneously appeal to conservative Christian evangelicals, many of whom were explicitly anti-Mormon. He cast himself within the broad American tradition of religious liberty and separation of church and state — and then the other shoe dropped. “In recent years,” he declared,
"...the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. They seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God. Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life.
It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America —the religion of secularism. They are wrong. The founders proscribed the establishment of a state religion, but they did not countenance the elimination of religion from the public square."
In making this charge, Romney tapped a deep vein of religious right ideology; attributing malevolent intentions and considerable power to “some” people; an unnamed “they”—who are somehow seeking to foist a new religion of secularity on unsuspecting Americans — and subvert the will of the founding fathers to boot. He didn't say who, and he didn’t say how, or offer even a hint of a fact in support of his argument. He didn’t have to. He was offering the first few notes of a tune so well known to his intended audience that they could complete it themselves. The tune carries the story of Christian nationalism that has served as an animating vision of the Christian Right for decades. It was heard by those with ears to hear it. And the key word to unlocking the inner tune was the word “secular.”
Chip Berlet, Senior Analyst at Political Research Associates, writes that for decades, the religious right has promoted a conspiracy theory that Christianity is under attack by “secular humanists.”
"The idea that a coordinated campaign by “secular humanists” was aimed at displacing Christianity as the moral bedrock of America actually traces back to a group of Catholic ideologues in the 1960s. It was Protestant evangelicals, especially fundamentalists, who brought this concept into the public political arena and developed a plan to mobilize grassroots activists as foot soldiers in what became known as the Culture Wars of the 1980s….
The idea of a conscious and coordinated conspiracy of secular humanists has been propounded in various ways by a variety of national conservative organizations and individuals."
For example, longtime televangelist and religious right leader, the late D. James Kennedy, offers a typical religious right use of the term: “God forbid that we who were born into the blessings of a Christian America should let our patrimony slip like sand through our fingers and leave to our children the bleached bones of a godless secular society. But whatever the outcome, one thing is certain: God has called us to engage the enemy in this culture war.”
Perhaps the most infamous example is Reverend Jerry Falwell’s explanation to Pat Robertson of the 9/11 attacks on Robertson’s 700 Club cable TV show: “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way — all of them who have tried to secularize America — I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.’”
By framing these claims as a conspiracy to provoke a "Culture War," Berlet concluded, “conservative Christians transform political disagreements into a battle between the Godly and the Godless, between good and evil, and ultimately between those that side with God and those that wittingly or unwittingly side with Satan.”
and a related article of interest in which Cal Thomas talks about Communism's "fellow Travelers" who still tout to the Communist Party line and how they are influencing American society:
For instance according to Glenn Beck & Rush Limbaugh it would seem they believe that the time for civil disobedience and insurrection may have arrived. They describe the present conditions in America under the Obama administration as the most dangerous time in America -Beck argues that Obama is creating an army which will be used to enforce his commands etc. While Beck argues Obama may take complete control of the country overnight if he so decides while Limbaugh here sounding a little more reasonable believes that what he and Glenn Beck and Fox News etc. are doing by shedding light on Obama's hidden agenda may in fact mitigate against Obama taking such action.
Dobbs supports the Minutemen who engage in summary executions.He distorts the truth to raise his ratings and his income. He claim all Latinos in America are drug dealers & addicts thieves, rapists, murderers that they are lazy & disrespectful & are disease ridden and destroying America from within. Oh and I thought it was the Muslims or the Socialist its difficult to keep up these Merchants of Hate and Fear.
CNN: Lou Dobbs or Latinos in America? Oct. 13, 2009
Join me and http://www.BastaDobbs.com in telling CNN they can't have it both ways, Lou Dobbs or Latinos in America?
September 06, 2009
Christian Theofascists and Anti-Abortionist Randall Terry- He's Back
Randall Terry anti-abortion/Pro-Life/Leader in action-HE's BACK
Howard Dean Called 'Baby Killer' At Health Care Town Hall Aug. 25,2009
"Our goal is a Christian nation. ... We have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism. ... Theocracy means God rules. I've got a hot flash. God rules."
"At the core of Obama's health care policy is the murder of babies and the murder of the elderly...If this bill passes and they expect us to pay ... there will be horrific consequences to pay."
Quotes from Randall Terry Religious Right leader
Dan Savage:
"When you have a party that claims to speak for God, claims that God is on it's side, the rhetoric heats up and the anger heats up. It's not just a battle of ideas and positions and what's good for America and bad for the country. It's a battle of what God wants and what God doesn't want and you're, and it's easier to demogoge about your enemies and despise and to dehumanize in this really personal and vicious way, and the religious right is fomenting this kind of hatred in this country, and at our peril. I really do think that the Michele Bachmann's of the world and the Glenn Beck's of the world are actively, consciously or subconsciously trying to get, I'm just going to say it, they are trying to get the President killed. That's why they're setting this up as kill or be killed arguments. He's gonna kill you grandma, pull the plug on grandma, death panels children have to go in front of. This kind of rhetoric, this paranoid style on the religious right, from the Birchers to the Birthers doesn't usually end well, and we, somebody's gotta put the brakes on it, and unfortunately, in the Republican party, there are no adults left in the room, there are only the Michele Bachmann's and the Glenn Beck's and the Rush Limbaugh's running the show."
Dan Savage interviewed by Keith Olbermann Sept. 2, 2009
Keith Olberman, Dan Savage -- Christian Theofascists and traitors
RevKentHovind September 02, 2009
An excellent summation of Christian Republican theofascism and treason against America in the rise of the right wing domestic terrorist Third Reich once again.
The Religious Right 's goal is not just to put an end to late term abortions but all abortion but this is only one issue in which they are involved. In each issue they often claim they only want their side to be heard and acknowledged such as Evolution versus Creation Science or Intelligence Design or silent prayer in the public schools or that they are against sex education of children prior to junior high but in the end once the stated goal is achieved they press for further compromises eventually chipping away at one institution after another til they have achieved their ultimate goal. As Dan Savage points out the members of the Religious Right views all issues in terms of good versus evil so there is no room for compromise. To Evangelical Fundamentalists or other conservative Christians each battle is seen in apocalyptic terms because they are on God's side and those who oppose or disagree with their views and their agenda are on the side of Satan and the Anti-Christ.And so for them the Endgame they are working towards is to create a Theocracy where America is ruled by strict Biblical based Laws.
The problem the Right has is that Obama is trying to pass legislation to reform the health care system which they characterize as some sort of overarching socialist plot to turn America into a collectivist communist state ruled over by an authoritarian regime.
But the Bush regime as we recall was not interested in listening to critics of their policies or to make compromises with them. Didn't Bush ignore public opinion polls and said it doesn't matter what the American people think because he talked to God and in the end he President Bush was the decider. So Bush and his cronies ignored the Generals, the Pentagon , the intelligence community because he knew in his gut or his heart what God meant for him to do so he tortured and abused prisoners and based upon concocted phony intelligence combined with a massive well-orchestrated propaganda campaign he invaded Iraq and committed other various crimes all with the peoples and the Medias approval. And by the way wasn't it the Saintly George W. Bush who said The Constitution is just a piece of paper.
But none of this matters to the conservatives and their fellow travelers at Fox News and CNN because Bush was their man in the white House surrounded by "real Americans" driven by an ideology Neoconservatism which they said would help America's economy to grow in leaps and bounds and that through their policies true democracy would spread throughout the Middle East ushering in aGolden Era of propriety and peace.
Now the Republicans are out of power which they have still not come to grips with. Being out of power instead of reaching across the aisle and working seriously and honestly with the Obama administration they became the Party of No but now they have become the party of obstructionism doing whatever they can to bring the government to a standstill and to foment anger and fear of the Obama administration to encourage civil-disobedience, civil unrest, an insurrection . The Republicans and the Religious Right and the conservative movement are actively promulgating various "Conspiracy Theories" about Obama and his administration to stir things up even more in their desire to topple President Obama. There is little reason to believe that these propagandists believe in any of these conspiracy theories ie Birthers Fema Concentration Camps,New World Order, health care being used to kill off old people , the infirm the mentally challenged etc.but they will use anything that comes down the pike to use to rile up average Americans and the various dangerous groups which have been brought into their movement ie militias, patriots, nativists etc.
Many of their spokespersons or leaders are just angry as hell and they don't care if violence erupts for they will blame that violence on President Obama and his evil communist style policies . In one sense the fear is for those of us who have watched the Religious Right Movement and the Far Right groups over the last three decades or so is that this may be the moment they have been gearing themselves up if they found themselves in a situation in which they had lost their political power and their influence on the majority of the American people.
It was the right-winger Tea Party supporters made up of Birthers or those who believe Obama is a socialist, a communist or a fascist and that Obama is not a "real American" and is anti-American and UnAmerican who turned the Town Halls meetings into farce.They did everything they could to push their agenda by not allowing the politicians to have reasonable discussion about health care reform. Instead the halls were filled with Republicans and Health insurance industry agitators who just shouted they didn't want socialism and if someone asked a real question they booed them.
We can speculate that as these Town Hall meetings continued and were seen on TV and Youtube and were discussed in detail on dozens of right-wing blogs and websites that this led to more confusion over the whole issue and so average people with possibly genuine concerns who got riled up started to go to these meetings to express their concerns which in large part could be traced to the misinformation, exaggerations, conspiracy theories and such being promulgated by the Republicans , the health insurance industry and various anti-Obama groups. But this as we know is how propaganda campaigns work the propagandists or public relations personnel and the lobbyists push their message and even if the message has little relation to the truth it can soothe peoples anxiety over an issue or increase their anxiety depending on what the propagandists or advertisers or other message handlers for a particular group or political party or company or industry want.
Part of the problem now is having unleashed this anger and suspicion and hatred and paranoia about the Obama administration will this lead to "unintended Consequences" which the conservatives didn't expect or do they even care . As Limbaugh said shortly after Obama became president is that he did not want Obama's government to succeed but rather to fail. Limbaugh revealed how angry and pissed off he was that Obama had become president with his revealing homophobic prison-like imagery in which he said that just because Obama is black we the American people are being told to bend over and grab our ankles- that is allowing Obama to figuratively rape/ sodomize the American people. This is no mere disagreement about policies but something deeper and more insidious . Limbaugh, Beck, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs & Fox News and a large segment of the American people feel this kind of betrayal with the election of Barack Obama and they are still eleven months after the election seething with anger and hatred and anxiety that America is being radically changed.
And so now let's look at one of these radical Religious Right campaigners Randall Terry who used to lead the Pro-Life /anti-abortion organization "Operation Rescue" who has re-emerged on the scene with his group OverturnRoe.com-Randall Terry and his organization Operation Rescue Insurrecta Nex.
Randall Terry's crazy road show and ensuring Dr. Carhart's protection" by feministing.com August 25,2009
Operation Rescue Insurrecta Nex
Message to the young people who survived the Abortion Holocaust/Genocide
He wants dangerous people who are revolutionaries
Operation Rescue Insurrecta Nex
The next step in the Pro-Life movement
Randall Terry Promises there will be violence if Health care Bills are passed
Insurrecta NEX at Nancy Pelosi's Office-July 30,2009
Randall Terry and 30 Pro-lifers march through the halls of congress and confront Nancy Pelosi's staff petitioning them to send their message to the Speaker of the House.
Randall Terry's Street Theater : videos
Obama's Firing Squad for Babies: HR 3200
from OverturnRoe.com Randall Terry
Obama and Doctor "Kill Granny": HR 3200-Randall Terry's Gurella Theater
Intro clip to Randall Terry's Insurrecta Nex new activist training video series
Randall Terry: Guinness, Chicken Wings, and Nat Turner's Rebellion
( via Right-Wing Watch
Randall Terry compares abortion to slavery and declares anti-abortion activists to be the ethical descendants of the abolitionists.
Randall Terry Takes His Show On The Road
Submitted by Kyle Right Wing Watch August 24, 2009
Last week we mentioned that Randall Terry and his band of merry pranksters were heading out on the road for series of "kill granny/kill babies" healthcare reform protests. Well, they are now underway:
Terry, 50, and his staffers readied their props: plastic toddler dolls, a trick knife, a Halloween syringe, a bottle of fake blood.
"We're going to be executing babies," he joked as the trio, trailed by another staffer with a camcorder, stepped out onto Salem Avenue in Roanoke toward Sen. Mark Warner's downtown office.
"Terry Recruits A New Army of Anti-Choice Warriors" by Kyle at right Wing watch on June 15, 2009 -
The Randall Terry press conference we covered last week was actually the lead-in to an anti-abortion leadership training seminar that he conducted over the weekend featuring Alan Keyes and Norma McCorvey for some fifty people from around the country at which Terry announced the formation of a new organization to be known as Operation Rescue Insurrecta Nex, as the Washington Times reports:
Randall Terry, one of the best-known abortion opponents in the U.S., launched a new version of Operation Rescue this weekend, calling on activists from across the country to press on despite bad publicity over the May 31 slaying of abortion doctor George Tiller.
Forty-five people from 16 cities met at the Crystal City Doubletree hotel Saturday for a hastily arranged "emergency pro-life training conference" to recruit more foot soldiers in the battle against abortion.
"The freeing moment will come when you decide to take a bullet for this movement," Mr. Terry said in a small ballroom watched over by one security guard. "Then you can't be bullied and intimidated into silence anymore."
Mr. Terry has renamed his movement Operation Rescue Insurrecta Nex - the latter two words meaning 'insurrection against death' in Latin - and is trolling for new affiliates.
"My mission is to raise up a new generation," he said, "to recruit them, train them and unleash them."
He brushes off criticism that activists like him created a climate that goaded the suspect in Dr. Tiller's slaying into action.
"You can't work with me if you can't say abortion is murder and child-killers are murderers," he said. "You've got to be prepared to take the heat over those words. The true terrorists are those who reach into a woman's womb and kill her child."
His opponents "refuse to admit that abortion is the cauldron from which evil flows," he added. "George Tiller reaped what he sowed. He was a murderer."
"The backstory on Randall Terry's new organization" Jill Stanek.com June 15,2009
Randall Terry emerged as a charismatic pro-life leader in the 80s, helping advance the "rescue" protest mentality.
The Washington Times reported yesterday on a "hastily arranged 'emergency pro-life training conference'" held in DC Saturday of "45 people from 16 cities... all white, nearly all over 40 and mostly Roman Catholic." Speakers included Norma McCorvey and Alan Keyes.
At this meeting Terry announced the formation of a new group, Operation Rescue Insurrecta Nex, "the latter 2 words meaning 'insurrection against death' in Latin - and is trolling for new affiliates," according to WT.
Randall Terry is no longer with Operation Rescue which it appears is now called Operation Rescue/Operation Save America but this could change since there is some sort internal fighting over the name between Randall Terry and the current leader of the organization.
Anyway here are a few choice bits from their website:
Operation Rescue/Operation Save America
Operation Rescue/Operation Save America unashamedly takes up the cause of preborn children in the name of Jesus Christ. We employ only biblical principles. The Bible is our foundation; the Cross of Christ is our strategy; the repentance of the Church of Jesus Christ is our ultimate goal. As the Church changes its heart toward unborn children, God Himself will hear from heaven, forgive our sin, and bring healing to our land.
We believe that Jesus Christ is the only answer to the abortion holocaust. It is upon our active repentance in the streets of our cities that the Gospel is visibly lived out. We become to the church, to our city, and to our nation living parables which rightly represent God's heart toward His helpless children.
There are no cheap political solutions to the holocaust presently ravaging our nation. Like slavery before it, abortion is preeminently a Gospel issue. The Cross of Christ is the only solution.
Chet Gallagher Responds to Lutheran Church Ordaining Practicing Homosexuals Chet Gallagher with foreword by Rev Flip Benham • 8/27/2009
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) voted last week to accept non-celibate clergy members and lay leaders who are in “life long” and “monogamous” same-sex relationships. This is an abomination. Just listen to the pleasant words used to describe the sin of homosexual sodomy. This is a 4.6 million member Church. It is the third largest protestant denomination in America making up 2% of our population. It is in absolute apostasy to the Word of God. Interestingly, as this convention was convened in Minneapolis/Saint Paul, a completely unexpected weather anomaly struck the city. A tornado was unleashed causing minimal damage to the city but broke in half the steeple of the Evangelical Church. “Can you hear me now?”
Summit Abortion Mill Closes in Vegas – Battle Turns to Sister Mill in Bridgeport
Marilyn Carroll with foreword by Rev Flip Benham • 8/20/2009
Our faithful contingent in Bridgeport, Connecticut, took its place at the gates of hell in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Summit abortion mill this July. God did exceedingly abundantly above all any of us could ask or imagine. The Summit abortion mill in Las Vegas has just closed its doors for good. Praise the Living God!
Now they return to the battle at the Summit mill in Bridgeport and Jesus continues to bless their efforts.
After Vegas – More Miracles in New Orleans
Dale Sochia with foreword by Rev Flip Benham • 8/10/2009
The saints of New Orleans have been storming the gates of hell (Local abortion mills) for years. Thousands of babies have been saved, and many folks have given their hearts to Christ as the Church of Jesus Christ allows its theology to become biography in the streets. Led by Pastor Bill Shanks, the number of abortion mills in New Orleans has shrunk from eight in 1994 to two at present. One of the two remaining abortion mills bought an old church building, renovated it, and made it into a place to kill babies. Brother Bill, Pastor Dale Sochia, and all of the saints in New Orleans send us this report of God’s working in New Orleans. Enjoy!
Public Officials to Rub Shoulders with Anti-LGBT Extremists at ‘Values’ Summit
This weekend, Tony Perkins and his gay-bashing Family Research Council (FRC) are hosting the annual Values Voter Summit, a Washington, D.C., gathering of right-wing religious activists that typically attracts a number of high-ranking, conservative public officials.
Among those scheduled to speak this year are House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer.
They and other public officials will be rubbing shoulders with a host of virulently anti-LGBT activists. The SPLC and a coalition of human rights groups has urged these public officials not to speak at the summit because their appearance legitimizes the lies and demonizing propaganda spread by groups like the FRC and the American Family Association, a co-sponsor.
Here’s a quick rundown of the anti-LGBT activists scheduled to speak at the summit, which begins Friday.
Gary Bauer, former official in the Reagan administration and former president of the FRC, is currently president of American Values. Last May, he claimed that allowing men to marry other men would only exacerbate the problems faced by African-American families and would remove more men from black households. He has also claimed that same-sex marriage would lead to polygamy, that it’s a danger to religious freedom, and that it’s “an incredible risk to our country and faith.”
Michael Farris, founder of the ultra-conservative Home School Legal Defense Initiative and Patrick Henry College, is based in Loudoun County, Va. He claimed in 2011 that Democrats in his home county are trying to use hate crimes laws to “stifle religious freedom.” Elsewhere, he said that same-sex marriage “undermines the integrity of a nation” and is a behavior that God calls “an abomination.”
John Helmberger is CEO of the Minnesota Family Council. On the organization’s website is “8 Reasons for Opposing Domestic Partners Benefits,” which claims that “Homosexual unions include inherently unhealthy behaviors, e.g. oral and anal sex” and that “Homosexual unions can’t replicate the benefits provided to society” by heterosexual marriage.
Cathi Herrod, president of the Center for Arizona Policy, wrote a March 2012, blog post in which she worried that anti-bullying policies were just a way for groups like the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network to “gain access to our public schools” and that anti-bullying educational materials are “agenda-driven propaganda” designed to “redefine marriage and to force cultural acceptance and affirmation of homosexual lifestyles.” According to media reports, Herrod was instrumental in lobbying the Arizona legislature to kill an anti-bullying law that would have strengthened existing laws.
Bishop Harry Jackson, senior pastor of Hope Christian Church in Maryland, has a history of anti-gay statements and has been active most recently in his home state’s battle over marriage equality. Popular with groups like the FRC and the National Organization for Marriage, Jackson has claimed that LGBT people are trying to “recruit children” because they can’t reproduce and that “demonic forces” are behind the gay rights movement. In 2011, he said, “I’m African American, and I especially believe that what we’re dealing with [gay marriage] is a satanic plot to destroy our seed.”
Rick Scarborough is the founder of Vision America, an organization that seeks to inform and mobilize pastors to “restore Judeo-Christian values.” Scarborough has said that AIDS is God’s judgment for an immoral act and claimed that “Sexual anarchy led by Sodomites who will not stop demanding more until they have destroyed every semblance of public morality” is one of the evils the country faces. He has also demanded to know what LGBT people have to be proud of, since they’re “defined exclusively by their aberrant sexual behavior” and have more than a thousand sexual partners in their lifetimes.
Mathew Staver, president of the Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University Law School, claimed at last year’s summit that the homosexual agenda undermines family and is a direct assault on religious freedom and freedom of speech. Earlier this year, Staver said that the goal of the Day of Silence (a day in which students don’t speak in an effort to call attention to anti-gay bullying) is “to disrupt the classroom learning environment in order to send a message in favor of the radical homosexual agenda” and that it’s part of “a concerted effort to force society to accept the practice of homosexuality and other deviant lifestyles.” Staver went on to warn that homosexual behavior raises “serious public health concerns.”Frank Schaeffer son of Dr. Francis Schaeffer explains the deception of the Religious Right as they wrap themselves in the flag and the Constitution while in reality trashing America's ideals and traditions and culture.
Ex-Evangelical Frank Schaeffer Denounces Michele Bachmann & Calls Her Movement Anti-American
Uploaded on 17 Aug 2011
DemocracyNow.org - Democracy Now! interviews former evangelical Christian Frank Schaeffer, whose father's writings and work played a key role in the religious development of Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann. Frank Schaeffer recently wrote an article titled, "Michele Bachmann Was Inspired By My Dad and His Christian Reconstructionist Friends — Here's Why That's Terrifying." Schaeffer's father was Francis Schaeffer, one of the nation's most influential evangelical Christian theologians and philosophers in the 1970s and 1980s. In a recent profile in The New Yorker magazine, Bachmann reveals she entered politics after watching Francis Schaeffer's film ,"How Should We Then Live." The film was directed by his son, Frank, our guest today. "[Bachmann] doesn't just come from the far-right of evangelical politics, she comes from a fringe even of the fringe, which is the reconstructionist Dominionist movement," Schaeffer says. "The religious right that I was a part of is fundamentally anti-American, they hate this country. They wrap themselves in the flag, but they hate America as it is."
Michelle Bachmann as an example of a Dominionist with political clout and how what she represents is a danger to American democracy.
Christians Should Control Government - Michele Bachmann And Dominionism
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